New Public News

As we close out 2017 I’m thankful for the numerous neighbors, leaders, artists, and organizations I have had the honor of working with to Make Place Happen in Baltimore and beyond. From championing pedestrian accessibility around Druid Hill Park, to exploring the robust and emerging civic spaces and public art of Arlington County, to colorfully reconfiguring concrete paving for playful action, place is truly what we made of it. Public space is not just constructed out of tactile materials like pavement, landscaping, and benches, but also the intangible – knowledge, organizing, and programming. Through New Public Sites walking tours we poetically re-experienced everyday public spaces while learning from community leaders and civil servants how to affect change at the block level. Artscape showed that streets and bridges don’t have to be just for cars, but can also be spaces for ecstatic pedestrian interactions. Workshops like the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Visioning Home created spaces for inclusively mapping out creative futures for the city. I am inspired by my collaborators who believe that we can expand such temporary zones of autonomy into lasting places of accessibility, well-being, joy, and freedom.

These tours are made possible with support from Free Fall Baltimore and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. Free Fall Baltimore is produced by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) and presented by BGE with additional support from The Abell Foundation, Atapco Properties, Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Mondawmin Crossings

Greater Mondawmin is a collection of strong neighborhoods sharing an array of educational, recreational, and shopping opportunities. Unfortunately, residents are unable to safely walk or bike to our local amenities due to streetscape barriers like the dangerous highways that ring Druid Hill Park and Mondawmin Mall. Mondawmin Crossings will be an interactive walking tour exploring opportunities for improving how local residents connect with our many valuable community places.

Inner Harbor Baltimore Drift

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is a celebrated success of waterfront redevelopment, but its spectacular looks disguise a contested past and challenging present. Inner Harbor Baltimore Drift tour participants will discover the real stories of how powerful people, visionary plans, and community movements are still transforming the former industrial wharf into a premiere public space for all.

Druid Hill Reservoir Interchange

Druid Hill Reservoir Construction Interchange will explore the overlapping embankments and sidewalks to nowhere between the Jones Falls Expressway and the Druid Hill Park Reservoir. The tour will focus on the history of the the park and surrounding highways, and details about the current reservoir construction project. Along the way, we will also share about the community movement afoot supporting pedestrian safety improvements around the park.

If you walk halfway from the Inner Harbor to the Highway to Nowhere, you will find yourself in the Bromo District, a vibrant and ever changing arts neighborhood and employment center. As part of the Front exhibit curated by Betty Gonzales, I am leading Bromo Spectacular!, two different tours exploring invisible public spaces and artist-led development projects along Howard Street and surrounding blocks. Both Bromo Spectacular! Tours are free. Click here for details.

Now let’s say you got lost and end up walking fifty miles southwest. You would not only beat the DC gridlock, but also end up in Arlington, Virginia. Arlington is an impressively old yet historically suburban county now coursing with high-density, transit-oriented infill development. This is the wave of the future yall, so start looking forward to exploring and reimagining the urban and suburban spaces of Lee Highway, Courthouse, and Columbia Pike! Offered by Arlington Arts in partnership with Walk Arlington. Tours are free. Click here for details. Registration links below.